15/12/2007 Le Matin Dimanche (Largest French-language weekly in Switzerland)
From 199 Swiss francs and up, you can now buy one of the old safe deposit boxes of the Lausanne bank where the wealthy stashed gold bars, banknotes and jewels.

FANTASY The Safes of the Federal Bank Are On Sale

The cliché comes back in every spy movie: the hero or the villain is led to the safe deposit vault of a large Swiss bank. The banker smoothly removes a large metallic box, one between thousands others. He turns a key, then leaves the client alone. The client now inserts another key in the impressive lock. He can now contemplate his own private treasure quietly: wads of cash, a collection of fake pasports, ingots and gold coins.

From now on, we can play the super rich or the spy at home. Francois Micheloud, specialist of Swiss residency for the wealthy, has acquired the safe deposit boxes of the former Swiss Federal Bank in Lausanne. This bank, created in 1874 by a former Swiss President, was bought by UBS after WWII.

«I have clients all over the world for these mythical boxes, Americans, British, French, Germans. They are often bankers themselves, or notaries or investment managers.», remarks François Micheloud. Some use their safe deposit box to display Swiss gold bar chocolates. Others just by the safe deposit door, which weighs a good 1,3kg, so use it as a paperweight on their desk.

Authenticity certificates
These boxes marked with a number, these locks, these doors and keys, delivered with an authenticity certificate, make one dream even so more that nowadays in most safe deposit vaults there are only plastic boxes... The price of this fantasy? Starting from 199 Swiss Francs.

For those interested in Swiss banking history, a website shows very original documents, such as this advertisement for the Banque Fédérale showing the exact safe deposit vault two stories underground where the boxes come from.